‘Any better questions?’ – Lewis Hamilton walks out on a post-Japanese Grand Prix interview

Lewis Hamilton has walked out of the post-Japan Grand Prix media session as his Mercedes farewell tour continues to prove a disaster.

The seven-time world champion, who joins Ferrari in 2025, is going through the worst season of his F1 career in his final year with the Silver Arrows.

Hamilton finished ninth at Suzuka after another disappointing weekend for Mercedes and is already 67 points behind Max Verstappen after just four races.

The 39-year-old finished two places behind teammate George Russell after the pair swapped positions mid-race.

This decision, which Mercedes insisted, came from Hamilton himself, coupled with the driver’s regular complaints about the W15, sparked rumors that Hamilton was terminating his contract until he could join the Scuderia for the 2025 season.

However, the Stevenage-born driver reacted angrily when thoughts about Ferrari were presented to him after the Japanese Grand Prix.

Hamilton had already shown his frustration by giving a curt “ok” to the question “How was it for you today?” during the media session.

He then broke down when a journalist asked him if he was “jealous” watching Ferrari, who finished a strong P3 and P4 behind the Red Bulls.

“Do you have better questions?” Hamilton responded before leaving the media session.

Hamilton’s annoyance is understandable, with his 9th place compounding his worst start to a Formula 1 season.

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His total of 10 points from the first four races is the lowest of his career, with Verstappen having retired in Australia but still 67 points ahead.

Hamilton appeared pessimistic after the race when asked if a different strategy to Mercedes’ could have been better.

He replied: “I don’t know what it would have been.” We still had two truly terrible tires to contend with.

“A real challenge today. I think I took some damage, I had massive understeer in the first stint. The hard tire was pretty bad, the medium tire was much better. In general, the car was pretty bad here.

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said afterwards: “We finished where we started, it was very difficult. The third stint was enough for a podium but an atrocious first stint, we have to find out what it was.

Regarding the tire strategy, Wolff added: “It was the right thing to do at the beginning. Then it suddenly dropped two seconds per lap, from that point on it was clear it wouldn’t last.

“There is no excuse, we have to fix this. This is a life test for us. The car gets faster.